The present invention relates to a motorcycle having a luggage box positioned at the rear portion of the vehicle body thereof.
Such a motorcycle having a luggage box at a rear portion of a vehicle body thereof is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-21776, for example, and is shown in FIG. 1 herein. Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 01 designates a luggage box divided into an upper half section 01a and a lower half section 01b. The luggage box 01 is formed in a U-shape, as viewed in horizontal cross section, and a rear portion of the luggage box 01 extends rearwardly from a rear wheel 02. The upper half section 01a is vertically openably and pivotably supported at a rear end of the lower half section 01b.
In the prior art motorcycle shown in FIG. 1, the rear portion of the luggage box 01 extends rearwardly from the rear wheel 02, and the horizontal cross section of the luggage box 01 has a U-shape. Accordingly, the luggage box 01 extends an excessive distance rearwardly from the rear of the vehicle body, thus enlarging the total size of the motorcycle. Also, the upper half section 01a of the luggage box 01 is vertically openably supported at the rear end of the lower half section 01b in such a manner as to be pivotably openable at right angles. Accordingly, the weight of the upper half section 01a of the luggage box 01 is borne at the rear end of a vehicle body frame, thus necessitating great stiffness in the vehicle body frame causing an increase in weight of the vehicle body. Further, the provision of the luggage box 01 causes an increase in the number of component parts and complicates the assembly operation.
Yet another problem of motorcycles of the described type addressed by an aspect of the present invention is that the container casings forming the luggage box or side trunks oftentimes cannot be made sufficiently large to accommodate large sized objects, such as a or a helmet or the like, because of air resistance considerations. Although this problem of storage space can be alleviated by simply enlarging the width of the container case, this solution compounds the air resistance problem.
Still further, the present invention addresses the problem of protecting the luggage box that may extend laterally from the vehicle body a distance greater than the steps provided to support the feet of the operator and rider. In these motorcycles, a pair of steps are typically provided at substantially the central portion of the vehicle body to extend sidewardly of the same, and a side trunk is located longitudinally behind the steps in such a manner as to extend sidewardly of the vehicle body. When the vehicle body is moved in a direction tending to cause it to contact the road surface, or the like, the side trunk that extends sidewardly an amount greater than the steps is brought into contact with the road surface. As the side trunk is designed to have sufficient strength or stiffness only for merely accommodating luggage, or the like, it tends to be damaged. To avoid this problem according to the prior art, an independent protection stay is fixed to the vehicle body. As a result of this practice, however, the weight of the vehicle body is undesirably increased because of the protection stay. Furthermore, if the protection stay projects from a cowl, the exterior shape of the cowl cannot be made continuous.
It is to the amelioration of these problems, therefore, to which the present invention is directed.